Chords for River (Story and Song) - Susan McKeown

[Bb] _ [N] I was on the Hill of Power, I think, _ _ _ _ sharing this song there, and it's close to the River Boyne.
And I was taking part in this festival that I organized with the [F] poet Paul Muldoon [Gb] on
the [F] Guadaloupe Coast _ _ [Fm] _ _ _ because the [Bbm] Irish government built a motorway right through. _ _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ [Bb] _ _ Out of that, Paul said, why don't we do something in Ireland?
So this was our third year, and all we did _ [N] _ _
_ was listen to people like Seamus Heaney, who's
a wonderful musician, and Colin Tilbyne, and listen to poets and music.
That's all we did, but we're just standing on the Hill.
So this is a song I sang there, which connects with Ireland for me.
And I was asked to write it for an album I found on Hope that was commissioned by a university
called Hope University in Liverpool.
And it was before the peace agreement that got signed, but in 98.
I must have written this in 97, because my _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Gb] _ _
name was Chief Seattle, because I was [N] trying
to write about Ireland in _ _ _ _ _ the middle of that, and Seattle's speech, and it's been translated into Irish.
So in that, we said, the water that runs in the rivers and lakes is _ _ _ _ _ _ a natively father's song.
And I thought about that in an Irish context, in which many _ _ had run red with the blood of [D] people's youth. _ _
_ [N] And I was also inspired by it, it was also about hope, by the poet Henry Dickinson.
And then an ancient Irish legend, which was only written down in the 9th century, about
a warrior called Tadhghalan, who lived in the north, and he'd grown up with a foster
brother of hers, _ _ and then trained in Scotland with this warrior woman, Scatha.
She was the one who trained all the young warrior boys.
And when they grew older, _ they fought in this huge war, a battle over a bull, that was started
by this queen Maeve.
Brown one.
Exactly.
And he was tricked into fighting Ferdiad, his foster brother, to the death, on _ _ _ _ an oath.
So he fought him, and he killed Ferdiad.
And there's a place name on the place for Ferdiad, all of them.
_ And then they took Tadhghalan and they bathed him in all of the different rivers close by.
This was his friends, carrying him to heal his physical and his soul wounds.
And they named each of the rivers, and all of the rivers in Ireland were originally named that.
But each river had a different quality.
So, I've talked a lot, I'll just sing.
No, no, no.
It's nice to have a story to tell.
We'll take a break after this song, but [Ab] it all went into [Bb] kind of my [F] hope for [N] Ireland.
So it's naming all of the _ _ _ _ _ _ rivers. _ _
_ _ _ [Bb] Bathe _ [F] _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [F] _ _
[Gm] _ [F] _ _ _ [Bb] [F] me in the waters [Gm] of the lagoon, of [F] the buoy, of [Bb] the lippy, [F] of the slaly, [Gm] of the [F] barren
shore, of the [Bb] black water, [F] the bondily, [Gm] the shun, [F] boil and burn.
[Bb] Bathe [F] me in the [Gm] [F] waters.
_ _ [Bb] Oh, [F] bless the water [Gm] that [F] flows from the fields into the [Bb] sea [F] that surrounds our little [Gm] [F] island of Reef.
[Bb] Hope [F] is a river [Gm] that flows [F] from these stone walls [Bb] into an ocean [F] we've never [Gm] [F] seen.
_ _ [Bb] _ _ [F] _ _
[Gm] _ [F] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [F] _ _
[Gm] _ [F] _ _ _ [Bb] Hope [F] is grass that [Gm] my [F] mother once wore, a fiddle [Bb] [F] tune I heard _
[Gm] [F] had no words.
_ [Bb] Hope [F] is [Gm] one thing we [F] have never lost, [Bb] though we are [F] tired from [C] the [F] old war.
[Bb] Bathe me [C] in the waters [Dm] of the lagoon, of [C] the buoy, [Bb] of the lippy, [C] of the slaly, [F] of the barren
[C] shore, [Bb] of the black [C] water, the [Dm] bondily, the shun, [Bb] boil and burn.
Bathe [C] me in the [Dm] waters.
_ [F] _ _ [Bb] Bathe in [F] anger in our [Gm] hearts, [F] save desolation and [Bb] loss.
But [F]
I'll be glad _ again.
[Bb] My [F] innocent friendship [Gm] still rages [F] whenever I am [Bb] again.
And [F] there, where [Gm] I'm a great [F] _ [Bb] friend, bathe me in the [C] waters of [Dm] the lagoon, of the [C] buoy,
[Bb] of the lippy, [C] of the slaly, [Dm] of the barren [F] shore, of [Bb] the black water, [F] the bondily, [Gm] the
shun, [F] boil and burn.
[Bb] Bathe [F] me [Gm] in the waters.
[F] _ _ [Bb] Wash [C] me in the waters [F] of the [Bb] lagoon, of the buoy, of the lippy, of [C] the [F] slaly, of the barren
shore, _ [Bb]
of the black water, [F] the bondily, the shun, boil and burn.
[Bb] _
[F] Bathe me [Gm] in the [C] waters.
_ [Bb] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
[C] _ [F] _ _ [Gm] _ _ [F] _ _ [Bb] _
_ [F] _ _ [Gm] _ [F] _ _ _ _
_ [N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _